The index represents the average of two components. One measures how Americans view current economic conditions and the other whether they feel the economy is getting better or worse.

For the week ended Dec. 7, 23 percent of Americans said the economy was "excellent" or "good," and 30 percent said it was "poor." That resulted in a current-conditions component of negative 7, unchanged from the previous four weeks.

The economic-outlook component registered negative 10, little changed from negative 9 a week earlier. In the latest week, 43 percent of Americans said the economy is improving, and 53 percent said it's getting worse.

"Although the weekly average is down slightly from the 18-month high found in late November, confidence picked up a bit at the end of the week," writes Rebecca Riffkin of Gallup.

"It reached negative 6 for Friday through Sunday interviewing, perhaps in response to the positive employment report released Friday. Higher economic confidence at the end of the year could be a good sign of a stronger holiday shopping season."

The Labor Department reported Friday that nonfarm payrolls soared 321,000 in November.

To be sure, not everyone is certain the employment report was as strong as many made it out to be. "I am not sure if that data reflects misplaced seasonal factors or newfound economic strength," Robert Johnson, director of economic analysis at Morningstar writes on Morningstar.com. 

"Keep in mind that November has been one of the stronger employment growth months of the year, and seasonal factors may not have caught up with that phenomenon."

Seasonal adjustments have "wreaked havoc" on monthly jobs market recently, Johnson says. "For 2014, monthly job growth has ranged from 84,000 to 321,000 jobs added, despite a relatively stable economy."

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